The title is a little bit misleading, but I just couldn't for the life of me figure out how to phrase it. What I'm basically wondering is this; have you ever moderated your honest behavior around children, due to fear of being falsely accused of something?

I had come across a comment on another site, posted by a woman who said one of her "rules" of life is NEVER leave a child alone with a man. I just found that to be incredibly sad and insulting. I don't know anything about her. I don't know anything about what she may have experienced in her life ... but I wouldn't be comfortable being ANYWHERE near her or her children if that is the way she thinks.

In fact, if I knew her opinions beforehand, I wouldn't even want to live in the same neighborhood, for fear of being accused of something that I didn't do.

It reminded me of an experience I had about 8 years ago. My mom works at an elementary school, and they were very short on staff. They started asking for some temporary volunteers for lunch/playground attendants. It was only 10 hours a week, so my mom called me up and asked if I would be willing to help out. I told her I'd be glad to, and the next day I was called in to meet the principal.

Long story short, without saying it outright, she ends up telling me that a 22-year old guy would be more trouble than it was worth, saying that I would be a "distraction" to the young ladies of the school. I left feeling angry and more than a little insulted and told my mom to never bother asking me to help out with that school ever again if that was the way they treated a person who only wanted to help.

The world is getting crazy ...

I'm 11 years older than my little brother. He's been living with me for about 7 years. When he was 16, one of his female best friends got kicked out of her home, and I remember the day my brother asked me if she could move in. I had to tell him no, and I knew how hurt he was about it. I remember explaining things to him ... telling him that I knew she'd be safe here. He knew she'd be safe here, and she knew she would be safe here ... but it would only take one wild accusation by someone -- like an angry parent who is pissed about someone taking their child in, even though they kicked the child out in the first place -- to pretty much ruin my life. I couldn't even take the risk, and how sad is that?